External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that his government would review in the new year the issue of importing crude oil from Iran. Oil imports from Iran has a steadily declining share in IndiaÂ’s total oil imports with the levels dropping from over 16 per cent in 2008-09 to almost 10 per cent in 2011-12.
Earlier, US exempted India from the sanction on import of Iranian crude oil. The bottom line of the conditions of the waiver has been satisfied which is you should not increase dependency on it, he said. Earlier last year, the US exempted India and six other countries from tough new financial sanctions on IranÂ’s oil trade citing significant reduction in imports of Iranian oil by them.
Khurshid said India has taken a “principled position” on the issue and was compliant with the UN sanctions on Iran. When you take a principled position, sometimes it hurts you. But because of this principled position, India is different from many other countries and has been appreciated by the US and Iran, he said.
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